


whiskey and a waffle chaser

by torigates



Category: Parks and Recreation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-31 12:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was something he had quickly learned about working with Leslie Knope; she put herself completely into everything she did, and because of that, things usually worked out for the best.</p>
            </blockquote>





	whiskey and a waffle chaser

  
The Lil’ Sebastian Memorial was a huge hit. Ben knew it would be. It was something he had quickly learned about working with Leslie Knope; she put herself completely into everything she did, and because of that, things usually worked out for the best. It was one of his favourite things about her.

There were still tons of people milling around the government courtyard, and Ben watched as Leslie made her rounds, thanking people for making it out, accepting and giving condolences. He still one hundred percent did not get the whole thing with the tiny horse, but Ben was quickly realising something about himself: if it was important to Leslie, it was important to him.

That was how he found himself doing the same thing, thanking people for attending the ceremony, accepting their thanks for a job well done, consoling the bereaved. Ben wasn’t sure how exactly this came to be his life, but he couldn’t say that he was too upset about it.

Somewhere between updating Jerry on their need for more refreshments, and giving Joan Callamezzo a statement, Ben lost track of Leslie in the crowd. He kept turning around whenever he caught a flash of blonde out of the corner of his eye, but it always turned out to be someone else.

Ann appeared at his shoulder. “You better come,” she said under her breath. “Leslie is freaking out in Ron’s office.”

Ben looked at the expression on her face, and immediately followed.

“What happened?” he asked, the two of them weaving through the crowd.

Ann shrugged and looked over her shoulder. “I don’t know, I can’t get her to stop babbling. I saw some people pull her into a room, and then the next thing I knew she was at my side hyperventilating. I finally pulled her into Ron’s office to stop people from looking at us.”

Ben nodded.

That was the other side to truly and completely dedicating yourself to a cause. When it went well, it went amazing, but when things went bad they went horrible. Ben had firsthand experience on just how bad things could turn out.

They walked into Ron’s office and Ann shut the door behind him. Leslie was pacing back and forth in front of the desk muttering under her breath to herself. She didn’t look up when they entered.

“Hey Leslie,” Ann said hesitantly.

She finally noticed they were there. “Sweet Ann,” she said. “Beautiful Ann. You always know what to do.” She smiled, and Ben thought she looked a little manic. It was a bit frightening.

“What happened?” he asked. He tried to sound calming and reassuring, but he was never any good at that.

Leslie looked at him. “I don’t know!” she exclaimed, and set off on a long rant. Ben was having trouble following all the details, but he managed to pick up something about secret government groups, and sexy scandals. Leslie kept shouting ‘mayor!’ at random intervals.

“Leslie, Leslie,” he said walking over to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. It was only then that she stopped pacing. “What are you talking about?” he asked.

She looked at him, and everything came tumbling out in one long breath. A group of people had approached her about potentially running for mayor in the next election, they wanted to know if there was anything they should know, anything potentially scandalous, Leslie had said no.

She leaned forward and buried her face against Ben’s chest. “I don’t know why I lied,” she said, her voice muffled.

Ben looked over at Ann for help, she raised both hands palm up, a clear ‘Don’t look at me,’ expression on her face. He looked back down at Leslie and ran his hand across her back. “It’ll be okay,” he said.

“How?” she wailed, her voice still muffled.

Ben kissed her on the cheek and Leslie sniffed. “I don’t know,” he said. “But I do know you’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out together.”

She looked up at him. “Really?”

“Of course,” he said.

Ann beamed at the two of them. “You two are too fucking adorable, it makes me sick.”

“I love you, Ann!” Leslie said, smiling again.

Ben wasn’t quite sure how he managed to throw in his lot with two women as remarkable and amazing as Leslie and Ann, but he there wasn’t a day he wasn’t happy to have met them.

“Thank you,” Ann mouthed.

Ben just nodded. It was nothing.

The three of them went back out there, Leslie with a smile on her face, Ben and Ann anxiously following behind her. She, of course, knocked the rest of the evening out of the park.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” she said. Most people had left, and it was just the Parks Department (minus Ron plus Ann and Ben) cleaning up (as much as April and Andy could be said to “clean up,” Ben didn’t think they understood what the words meant, and Donna was sitting at her desk flipping through a magazine. Ben looked over at her earlier, but she had just raised her eyebrows, a clear don’t even try it, look on her face, and Ben had gone back to picking up trash. Donna kind of scared him most of the time).

“Don’t worry about it,” he told her. “We all have our moments.”

She smiled at him and kept working. Eventually they had worked long enough that Leslie deemed their cleaning job finished. Everyone wandered off in different directions, Ann whispering a “Call if you need me,” to Leslie.

“So,” Ben said.

“So,” she said.

“Want to get a drink?” he asked.

“Fuck yes.” She grinned. “I think Ron has some whisky in his desk.”

Ben wanted to kiss her. So he did.

“We really do suck at the whole ‘secret dating’ thing,” she said when he had pulled back.

He shrugged and gestured around them. “There’s no one here.”

Leslie grinned. “That’s what we thought last time,” she pointed out, but she was still standing too close to be strictly professional. She took his hand and led him into Ron’s office.

“Don’t you think Ron would mind?” he asked, hovering in the doorway. Leslie was behind Ron’s desk, rummaging through the drawers.

“He owes me so many favours,” she said, and grinned triumphantly when she pulled out a half-full bottle from one of the lower drawers. “Success!”

Her expression was contagious, and Ben smiled back at her despite himself. She twisted off the cap and took a long swig right from the bottle. He watched the long line of her neck, the way her throat moved as she swallowed. It was kind of the hottest thing ever. Ben took a couple of steps further into the office.

She walked around the desk, leaning against the edge, and held out the bottle to him. He leaned forward to take it from her, taking a long swig himself.

She smiled up at him, looking mischievous, before hopping up on the desk. Her feet dangled back in forth in front of her. Ben sat down in one of Ron’s spare chairs (although why the man even had any extra chairs in his office was beside Ben. It seemed like Ron went out of his way to make his work environment as physically unappealing as possible). Leslie swung her legs up onto his lap. She smiled again, and this was when he loved her best. Happy, care-free, riding high on her own success. He wanted to see her like this always.

He took another sip and passed the bottle back to her. She took another long drink.

“I’m sorry,” she said again.

He waved her off. “Don’t be.”

“No,” she said. “I don’t know why I lied. They were just,” she paused, and he watched as she gathered her thoughts. “They were all just standing there, talking about how I had a bright future, and how someday I could be _mayor_ , and asking if there was anything potentially damaging, and I just said no! I don’t know why.”

“Because you want to be mayor,” he said. “You deserve to be mayor, you’d do amazing things for this city.”

She smiled at him with such affection on her face, Ben thought he probably loved her.

“I _do_ want to be mayor,” she said. “I don’t want being mayor to mean I can’t be with you.”

Ben stood abruptly, taking her face in his hands and kissing her. Leslie wrapped her arms around his waist, and pulled him into her, hooking one leg behind his knee. He opened his mouth and kissed her deeper.

“Um,” she said pulling back after a long moment. “I think you should take me home now.”

Ben nodded. “Race you,” he whispered against her mouth.

Her eyes lit up, and he took off. Her laughter followed behind him.

The next morning Ben woke up to the sounds coming from the kitchen. He pulled on a t-shirt and walked out of his bedroom to the sight of Leslie teaching Andy and April how to make waffles.


End file.
